You searched for "laser"
To use or not to use: absorbable sutures for facial wounds
This systematic literature review looked at studies comparing facial skin closure with absorbable versus non-absorbable sutures. Studies not published in English or looking at areas other than the head and neck, and studies focused on suture technique rather than material...
Tonsillectomy in or out?
Although tonsillectomy is the most common surgical act performed in ENT practice, there is still some concern about the safety of outpatient or day surgery scheduling, especially in adults. Although this has been common practice in many departments for some...
Inter-aural hearing preservation in cochlear implantation
Hearing preservation during cochlear implantation is becoming increasingly important, although results can be unpredictable. NICE are in the process of updating their guidance in the UK and it is possible that those with better hearing than the current candidates will...
Suspect the unsuspecting in thyroid cancer
This article reminds readers of how often invasive thyroid disease can appear, as the symptomatology is minimal. Noticeable airway symptoms appear after 50% of the airway is involved and surgeons can often fall in the unsuspecting trap of discovering locally...
Is it worth paying for group therapy?
Group therapy for post-stroke communication difficulties has been described in the research literature for more than 50 years and is generally considered an efficacious approach. Yet these authors express concern that the American Medicare system is less willing to fund...
Advances in surgical innovation for head and neck cancer
This article reviews current advances in surgical treatment of head and neck cancers such as sentinel node biopsy, stereolithic modelling, transoral robotic surgery and intra-operative imaging of tumour margins. Sentinel node biopsy has been found to be especially useful for...
Transnasal endoscopic repair of CSF leaks
This Italian study was a retrospective review of 110 consecutive patients who underwent repair of their CSF leak via the transnasal endoscopic approach from 2003 to 2013. All surgery was performed by the same primary surgeon and patients with a...
To drain or not to drain
These two separate papers neatly tie together the same ideas. The first, a retrospective study of 107 patients and 116 procedures over a 10-year period who underwent a CSF leak repair, 82.2% without a lumbar drain and 17.8% with. The...
Finding the elusive parathyroid glands
While reading in the literature about new advances in knowledge and surgical techniques, it is often easy to lose track of the longstanding knowledge that we all acquired during our training. This is why this article on the anatomy and...
Marshmallows for swallowing assessments!
The complaint of ‘food sticking in my throat’ is one many of us will have heard several times in clinical practice. The authors of this study report the prevalence of this symptom to be between 5-8% in the general population...
Incidental thyroid nodules: should we observe or operate?
Thyroid nodules are extraordinarily prevalent, detected by physical examination in 7% and by imaging studies in 67% of the population. Although most of these nodules are benign, up to 20% are found to be malignant on excision. It’s a very...
